Usual retail therapy as stress reliever

It is turning into one of my guilty pleasures. But it'll be fine as long as it stays affordable.
Urgent reports and proposal deadlines accomplished, presentation completed, and exams thinly scraped past.
The long awaited shopping spree is finally here! A trip down to DFO!
Na got herself another checkered Esprit blouse, a long cardigan and skirt, and a Country Road tote. I must say, the new navy colour is the reason why I finally bought one of these. It's like the Esprit tote trend in 2003, u'd see almost most Aussie girl and Aussie metro men owning at least one of these.

What's next?
Harbourtown before the exams?

In any case, Na's also been spending on downloads. Particularly, YT.

This was months ago, but Na only started noticing the band 2PM recently. I mean, I've known them since their debut but took little notice of them.
Isn't Nichkhun (pronounced Nick Khun) a Hottie?
Thai bred in L.A. and working in Korea. He's such a cutie pie.

Super Epic Moment for Super Epic Year

This is gonna be a HUMONGOUS YEAR for Na!!!

Although there're no concrete plans yet, but everything seems going smoothly, excluding the final deciding factor that can shred the plan into pieces.
Let's put this plan aside first and digress alittle.

So many Na's Epic Moments are happening this year!!!!!!!

Firstly, the more obvious Na's Epic Moment of her life: Na's 21st!
Since I was little, I've dreamt of this day more than I've imagined my wedding. Quite frankly, I've never given much thought about weddings.
The kind of party I'll hold, themes I'll put up and dresses I'll wear.
But I've never ever expected that not only do I not get any of this, I'm celebrating my 21st in a foreign land, in a place I call my 2nd home*, without my family with me.
*It really is my 2nd home cuz I live in uni.

Second Na's Epic Moment of her life: GRADUATION!!!
Oh YEA! By the end of this year, Na would officially be a Fresh Grad!!
This is another unexpected turn out of my life. Judging from the rigorous road throughout my academic pursue, I've never thought that with a brain like mine, I could go through uni and live to wear the robe + hat in my entire life!
Suddenly pursuing masters doesn't seem that impossible afterall.

In Na's perspective, Na's Most Epic Moment of 2009 and the rest of her life:
THAILAND MIROTIC CONCERT!!! (Tentative)
No concrete plans yet, but it seems almost possible now!!

Possible obstructions/obstacles:
- Asian Summit postponed to July. Concert is on 27/28 June, so hopefully nothing stirs up at that time.
- Parents are a chore when it comes to 2 girls who just turn legally responsible for themselves, going to a politically fragile country.
- Availability of Concert tickets/cheap air fares
- Lastly, and this is the DECIDING Factor on whether I can make it to the concert - Na's Exam Timetable.
As it turns out my exam period ends on 27th June. So there's a possibility for my paper to end on exactly 27th June (*touch wood*).
This is why everybody should keep their fingers and toes crossed for Na so that her exam would end latest on 26th June so she'll have 27th June to go through immigrationsss and arrive in time for the 28th concert.

I was suppose to blog on my DFO shopping trip today, but this is waaaay better to blog about. And it gets me hyped up. Super hyped up.

**Na tells herself to calm down and don't keep her hopes up too high in case of jinxing it.
Cheers!

Another option

Na found a new place to let down her hair and stretch her legs in the mids of this hectic deadline frenzy period.

First, let us check out the menu. They also serve a page of japanese food and another page of chinese food.
Some sauce and cooked onions to go with the food we ordered, korean style.
Typical Korean restaurants would serve free-to-flow appetizer. This place serves good kimchi!
First served is squid and pork belly kimchi soup. I thought the other restaurant Wah served the best Jigae. This pot has too much chilli oil. It itches my throat.
Next served is our BBQ pork belly and beef brisket.
The Jigae serves 2 people and the BBQ platter serves another 2. There were 4 of us, but we were all girls.
Somehow, by spending a little more time, with some company, we manage to finish everything we ordered.
This is probably the higher tiered korean restaurant we've patronised so far.

Lower Tiered: Wah
Middle Tiered: Matdongsan
Higher Tiered: Hanuri
The city needs more exploration for more korean food.

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Na is really waaaaay too occupied with uni.
Last night, Na had a video conference with her parents.
They seem particularly interested with my agenda for next weekend, specifically Sunday.
It's really weird cuz normally they'd be more curious of what I've done for the week, than what I'd be doing for the coming week.
Na only realised the occasion after checking the calendar.

Wow. Na never realised she's nearing the end of April and almost 2 months since her return. It feels like only 1 month has passed. There has been so much to do. I just finished a proposal and there's a test tmr morning. And another presentation to prepare straight after. GIMME A BREAK!!!

Why issit that when I am finally enjoying my time here, the clock seem to speed up so much more.

Ways to get Elaine on Camera

It's actually pretty easy.

First method, hoax her to take a photo of the precious moment. But the drawback is you'd only get 1 shot.

Second, force her into the picture. Grab her and drag her in the middle, right in front of the camera.

Third, do a candid shot.
Position your camera at her noticeably, shout for her name, and snap right away!

Or lastly, go overseas for a very long time and do a video call with her.
Hit print screen on your keyboard and there you go.
Picture Perfect Elaine!
I'm probably ruining my chances of video conferencing with her now, but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity I cannot miss.

Smile Laine! You're on Candid Camera!!

If only the weather could stay like this forever.

The weather has been Awesome!

Yesterday, according to a friend, it was 17 degrees in the middle of the day. But yesterday, Na was still in T-shirt and shorts for the entire day in uni.
Come to think about it, it's been really comfortable lately.

Today, Na feels light hearted and almost too carefree to have any motivation to mug for friday's paper.
All because of this:
It may look like just another rainbow, but if you take a closer look, about a few cm above the first rainbow is a hint of another rainbow!
Here's another angle of the rainbow. Super faint, but it is there.
Double rainbows. A rare sight. You have to be really lucky to meet one. Today, the folks in St Lucia must be having a good day. ^^

Too much life

Too little TVXQ.
I'm turning Na's Haven into a boring place!! (In Na's context.)

Na's Haven isn't Na's Haven without TVXQ!

Something recent.
Tohoshinki's Asahi Ontama episodes.
It's pretty JaeSu-fied this time round.

Jaejoong rocked this episode:

Joongie's face when imitating Changmin. *ROFL!!*

SMS killer Jaejoong in action!

Ahhh!! It's cute to see how they phrase their thoughts. Junsu sounds so much like a kid in here.

They are all funny here. But the highlight has gotta be JUNSU'S ButtCrack!!!

And the last bit of TVXQ ganging up on Junsu. How typical.

There are 2 more episodes that are also hilarious.
1 where Jaws came into the picture. How imaginative!
and another that's suppose to be on TVXQ's stage errors/regrets, but turned out to be Junsu's errors. How perculiar. And I thought Junsu makes the least mistakes. How cute.

Lastly, abit of Changmin love ^^


Sometimes I wonder... would Tohoshinki be closer to the real TVXQ or is DongBangShinKi the real deal?
I mean, most fans love DBSK better than Toho, but recently, I came to realise that as their popularity rises and command of Japanese improving, they start to be alot more of themselves rather than the quiet/polite/respectful/rigid Tohoshinki. I mean, they are still polite and respectful, but they are also showing alot of their true selfs to the BigEast. Whereas in DBSK, there's an image to uphold and the netizens to be wary of.

Oh no! Na is turning from a Cassie to a Bigeast!!

Oh wells, as long as it's TVXQ Love. (:

Chef Na back in business!

The journey to regain my cooking abilities have been toilsome, but Na still managed it. Here's 5 dishes to regain your cooking abilities.

First up, sunny side up.
It sounds ridiculously easy, but at least you wouldn't fumble and screw it up. Seriously, anyone who screws up egg frying shouldn't even be allowed to step into the kitchen.
Second dish to regain your cooking abilities: Mashed Potatos and Gravy.
Recover your fear of sharp objects in the kitchen by starting with a potato peeler. It's the last sharp thing you'd expect to cut yourself with. Butter knives aren't sharp.
When you're almost ready, season some chicken, bake them and make chicken rice out of chicken stock. Na's surprised!! This really taste like chicken rice at home!!
To fully regain confidence, Kimchi Jigae is the answer! Chef Na wouldn't be Chef Na if there isn't any Korean in her cooking. Add some vermicelli in the broth and you'd get a nice bowl of Kimchi Soup Beehoon!
How creative!
Finally, when you've accomplished all of those mentioned above, you're alas ready for the finishing touch of professionalism.
Greenbean soup. Sounds easy but you'll need a precise judgement of quantity and procedures to accomplish this dish.Oh! Did I mention I also baked double choc chip cookies? But that's out of a premix, so it shouldn't be something Chef Na should brag about.

Chef Na says: No electric mixer lar! Don't blame me lar!

Sheena's Haven says: Yea right.

Marilyn's Birthday!!

I don't think she reads my blog or knows it exists since I hardly do any publicity for Na's Haven.
Anyways, Marilyn just got home from US this morning, and it was her birthday yesterday, so the 3 kids at home decided to throw the woman of the house a surprise birthday party dinner.

First of all, every birthday needs a cake. We could have bussed down to indooroopilli to get one from the coffee shops, but it'd be no fun anymore.
Well, Chef Na may be in sabbatical, but her spirit is still in the house!

Marilyn's Birthday cake shall be homemade double choc chip cup cakes!
Premix of course. We'd make one from scratch, but an electric mixer wasn't within our budget. (Yea right.)
Fill up the colourful paper cups until half full and line them up on a baking tray.
1 for Marilyn, 1 for Lina, 1 for Ann and 1 for Na!
And in goes the cup cakes.... You have no idea how gruelling the 20minutes of baking was. The scent/fragrance, the sound of the oven fan, the joy of watching the batter rise into delicious little things. You'd think you've walked into a house of CMI Cheerleaders when the oven went "Ding!"
Take the cup cakes out to cool for a while. In this case, 1 night, cuz Marilyn was arriving in the morning, and being a surprise, we had to do it the night before so she wouldn't find out.

Next, make the choc icing!! (yea.. premix again.. cuz no electric mixer lar!! (yea right.)) And spread them evenly on the cakes. Sprinkle choc rice quickly before icing hardens.
Being the inspirational Chef Na, I bought the metallic ball candy thingies to decorate the cakes.
And what do we do with the left over icing?
Strawberry "Fondue"!!!

Well, a dinner can't be only cup cakes. So Lina plans on making... guess what!?!?!?
NASI LEMAK!!!
And an essential in Nasi Lemak....
Ikan Billis!!!

Umm... there's only so much lazy people could do. So deep-frying is out of the option.
Instead, we have this sambal ayam paste thing that Ann contributed to complete our Nasi Lemak combination.
It's not fried chicken wings, but it's still chicken wing that taste excellent!
We lay out the table and wait for Marilyn to walk out of her room.
Oh.. the yellow thing is egg tofu omellete.
Once dinner is over, off the lights go and out comes the Unit 5 choir singing the birthday song for our dear Marilyn.
Happy Birthday Marilyn!!

Na's Haven in Brissy

Curious, Curious.

Yes, I do have people asking me what my room in Brissy looks like now.
Last semester I did a house tour but this semester, after I moved, I got too busy with life so I didn't get the chance to hold a house tour in Na's Haven.

First of all, unlike last semester's suite, this is not a very big room. So not much touring is needed.

Welcome to Na's Haven in Brissy.
Please enter.

First up, Na's workstation.

It looks absolutely neat in real life, but somehow it translates differently in photos.
Next, you'll get to see how Dongbang-fied Na's room is.

The white doors (or you may think is a wall) with loads of pictures stuck onto it is my wardrobe. And yes, those are ALL Dongbang pictures. ^^

OhOh! Sh and Qp! Spot the card you gave me for my pre-21st! (:

And lastly, where no magic happens, Na's hibernation nest.

Uh Huh! More Dongbangs!!! I Love It!!!
Although not as Dongbang-fied as my home sweet home in Sunny Singapore, but this room is pretty dongbang-fied for a 1 year accommodation.

Sab! Yl! Mich! Nz! Spot the Star Card you guys gave me b4 departing last year!!

A random fact: Na has 7 calenders in this room. Guess why.

Long time no see Sunnybanks :)

Straight after the easter holidays, a group of 9 girls headed to Sunnybank for Dim Sum at Landmark Restaurant.
Sunnybank is a asian-fied town 30-40mins bus ride away from uni.
After Yum Cha, we split into our own groups to do shopping. I, obviously joined the M&Ms club.
Next stop, dessert!!
There's a taiwan/hongkong-ish dessert shop nearby, so we stopped by for tauhua.
We did our asian mart shopping, buying stuff like frozen pandan leaves, fishballs, rock sugar that cannot be found in Coles or Woolies (local supermarkets).
Nearly 4-5 hours later, Bel had to leave for her Zefron movie and so it was just the Lodge Trio left for dinner.

Just a little trivia.
M&Ms gang = Lodge Trio + Bel.
Lodge Trio = Ambassadors of Unit 3/5/6 of Campus Lodge.
And we're all Singaporeans.
Which brings me to my next photo.
Our dinner place: Little Singapore in Sunnybank.
The menu looks absolutely fine at a first glance.
The usual Nasi Lemak, Laska, Curry, etc.
But when you take a closer look and read the menu intently, you'd realise that OBVIOUSLY A SINGAPOREAN DIDN'T WRITE THIS MENU!!
How Ironic!!
*Hint: Try finding Roti Prata in the menu.
We took a loooooooong time to decide on what to eat. It's been a while since we had anything Singaporean-ish. So long, that all the waiters/waitresses had each came up to us to ask if we were ready to order.
Ooo! And guess what??
NONE OF THE STAFF WERE SINGAPOREANS!!
HOW IRONIC!!!!!!!
You get Korean staff in a Korean restaurant,
Japanese staff in a Japanese restaurant,
Thai staff in a Thai restaurant,
Vietnamese staff in a Vietnameses restaurant, and
Taiwanese staff in a Singaporean restaurant!!!
Ash: Chicken Char Siew Curry Dry Noodles
Rach: Laksa
Na: Seafood Horfun

You'd think that judging from the photo, laksa would taste the best.
But Nooooooo. I thought mine was the best. ^^

Southbank Movies Are REALLY Cheap!!!

On Good Friday, when all the aussies are spending time with their family, homesick people would look for other activities to entertain themselves.

So Southbank here we come!!

That's a Possum up on a tree taking a nap. They look really cute like that, but they are such irritants at night while fighting with the Turkeys for who knows what.

The weather was...... cloudy. It rained for almost 2 weeks straight in Brissy.
Na got herself another airbrush in the Lifestyle market. It has been decided that there will be no inks. Just random airbrushes/henna whenever Na gets the opportunity.

And off to the movies we go!
In Brissy, students get concession movie tickets!
Sg should learn from them!
But did I mention that it's free seating in the theatres here?
I guess we should all learn from each other.

Yea, I know.. It's the kind of movie that you'd least expect Na to go watch. But seriously, there weren't much to choose from and Lina is a huge HSM fan... so yea.
Na did get her Zefron drools for the rest of the day.

My Brissy Family... well, part of it (household).

Pizza Night

I love Yoochun!!

SO SUAVE!!!

JAEJOOOOOONG!!!

KAWAIIIIIII!!!!!
His rendition of Changmin's face. WAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Last night was Pizza Night!!
First was to Coles to get drinks, tabasco and grated cheese.
Next is to BWS for some vodka.
Lastly, it's dominos.com for PIZZAAAA!!!
The last thing to make this pizza night perfect:
Na's Tohoshinki T Tour DVD!!!!
(Not shown in photo.)
Aussie's pizza really taste better than those in Singapore.
**Satisfying**

After that, we chilled in the cool autumn night and talked until.... 3ish in the morning, just 1 over hour short of sunrise.

Truly an enjoyable night, with satisfying food and drinks, excellent entertainment and good company. ((:
Thanks mates!

Chef Na goes on sabbatical

Chef Na has debut for barely a month and because of this,

Chef Na has decided to go on a sabbatical until further notice.
Therefore, this shall be Chef Na's last entry indefinitely.

Chef Na's latest dish served:

Kimchi Seafood Jigae,
with korean preserved anchovies and sweet chilli fried tofu provided by Ash
and Rice by Rach.

Inspired by too many episodes of Family Outing.
My housemates and Ash & Rach tried it and they all loved it!!
Success on first trial!!
Until next time, eat well everybody!

Bleeding Walking Zombie

Sunday just ZOOMED pass and here's Monday.
Somehow, my engine isn't ready for Monday yet. There are signs that tell me I'm aging rapidly.

I woke up and dragged myself to a 12noon lecture.
12noon is suppose to be a late class, but it seems like sunrise to me!

I got sugar overload in lecture, and felt like a pot junkie high schooler.

I was suppose to go home after lecture for lunch. But I circled around uni 1.5times just to find the destination I was heading towards.

I only remembered I have a tute at 3pm at 3pm.
and I walked incredibly turtle slow home after tute.

I needed more sugar and my banana was rotting so I decided to make banana milkshake. I ended up taking out pasta sauce and carrots from the fridge.

While I was peeling the carrots (and I still have absolutely no idea that I'm not suppose to peel carrots for milkshake), I told Ann that I could cut my own fingers in this state of mind right now bcuz I thought my fingers looked like carrots.

And true enough, I did.

Lina freaked and rushed to bandage me. I thought it wasn't as painful as I imagined it to be. (clearly, I've gone bonkers)

Then I remembered about my milkshake, but I was already half way chopping up garlics.

So, totally unplanned, I had pasta for dinner.

Surprisingly, I'm super clear headed right now and could work an exam right this instant. Although I would totally dread exams, it's just a metaphor to describe how awake I atm.

No wait.
After this evaluation, I doubt I'm aging. It's just a sign that Night Owl Na has returned!
I'm back to the Na who functions better at night than in the day when I was Seventeen!!!
Whooooo~~!!

Gardener Na

Na skipped lecture on Tuesday to join Lina in the uni glasshouse to water plants.

I'm not playing truant, the lecture is really too boring.

And in the glasshouse, we don't just water the plants with a spraycan. We water the plants with distilled water from the tap (Yes!! They have distilled water from water taps!!) and this machine thing that tells you how much water to fill the pot with!!!

The glasshouse looks bright and cool and all, but it really is OVEN HOT inside!
So after we're done with the chores, we hanged out outside for some fresh air.
Doesn't the sky look like it's taken from The Simpsons?

So there you go. You want Na's life, Na give you Na's life in Brissy. Na is gonna try avoiding to read her blog for the past few post due to the lack of TVXQ.

**Na chills with her new apple/watermelon/mango flavoured Licorice while typing this post.**

Chef Na

Na has been cooking alot recently!
This week was curry week.

We have:

Lina's fish curry and Na's Japanese curry.

Na had to split her curry into 2 pots because she hasn't bought a big enough pot and the pots provided in the apartment is only enough to cook maggi mee.

Lina, on the other hand, proudly cooked her curry from scratch. That means, from plain water and curry powder, into real curry! No paste! No shortcuts!

But it ended up tasting only like curry powder and coconut milk in water.

So, it was Chef Na to the rescue!
Lina and Ann couldn't figure out what was wrong with the curry. All they could tell was that the curry wasn't tingling one of our taste receptors.
Just then, Chef Na appeared and offered for a food tasting ceremony in order to find the missing ingredient.

Chef Na's Food Review: The stock was missing!
Chef Na questioned the ingredients in the curry and found that there were not enough fish to flavour the soup!

And so, the day is saved!
Thanks to Chef Na!